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AbstractThe Controlled Freeze Zone™ technology removes CO2 and H2S from natural gas in a single step cryogenic distillation process. Removal and management of acid gas impurities from natural gas pose significant challenges in developing sour gas fields. In many cases CFZ™ is capable of processing sour gases with a wide range of CO2 and H2S compositions at a lower cost than conventional technologies. The acidic components are removed as a high pressure liquid that can be injected into reservoirs for geosequestration or, when of suitable composition, to improve oil recovery. In either case, sulfur production from H2S and release of CO2 to the atmosphere can be eliminated.CFZ™ technology was successfully demonstrated through earlier pilot plant operations. Currently, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company is advancing CFZ™ to large scale commercial readiness through a commercial demonstration plant in Wyoming, USA. By building the commercial demonstration plant at ExxonMobil’s world-class Shute Creek gas treating and acid gas injection facility, integration of CFZ™ with acid gas injection, will also be demonstrated when the unit is operated in 2010–2011.

AbstractThe Controlled Freeze Zone™ technology removes CO2 and H2S from natural gas in a single step cryogenic distillation process. Removal and management of acid gas impurities from natural gas pose significant challenges in developing sour gas fields. In many cases CFZ™ is capable of processing sour gases with a wide range of CO2 and H2S compositions at a lower cost than conventional technologies. The acidic components are removed as a high pressure liquid that can be injected into reservoirs for geosequestration or, when of suitable composition, to improve oil recovery. In either case, sulfur production from H2S and release of CO2 to the atmosphere can be eliminated.CFZ™ technology was successfully demonstrated through earlier pilot plant operations. Currently, ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company is advancing CFZ™ to large scale commercial readiness through a commercial demonstration plant in Wyoming, USA. By building the commercial demonstration plant at ExxonMobil’s world-class Shute Creek gas treating and acid gas injection facility, integration of CFZ™ with acid gas injection, will also be demonstrated when the unit is operated in 2010–2011.

Abstract The impact of CO 2 leakage from underground storage formations on shallow water resources is a concerning aspect in CO 2 capture and storage (CCS) risk assessment. In Campo de Calatrava region (Spain), natural CO 2 fluxes from the Earth’s mantle interact with shallow aquifers, resulting in significant changes in their physical and chemical properties. The resultant water is slightly acidic (pH 5.9-6.4), oxidizing, and enriched in iron (up to 6.1×10 -4 mol·L -1 ) and other metals usually found at trace concentrations. Thermodynamic calculations reveal that aqueous Fe(III) carbonate complexes play an important role in the persistence of this high concentration of iron and trace metals in solution.

Abstract The impact of CO 2 leakage from underground storage formations on shallow water resources is a concerning aspect in CO 2 capture and storage (CCS) risk assessment. In Campo de Calatrava region (Spain), natural CO 2 fluxes from the Earth’s mantle interact with shallow aquifers, resulting in significant changes in their physical and chemical properties. The resultant water is slightly acidic (pH 5.9-6.4), oxidizing, and enriched in iron (up to 6.1×10 -4 mol·L -1 ) and other metals usually found at trace concentrations. Thermodynamic calculations reveal that aqueous Fe(III) carbonate complexes play an important role in the persistence of this high concentration of iron and trace metals in solution.

AbstractSupport for renewable energy currently is revised in many countries due to the perception that the economic burden caused by the support exceeds the permissible limit. Decreased or suspended support creates instability in renewable energy production. There is a lack of research related to design of the sustainable renewable energy support policy, which considers the structure of the support policy system in detail leading to successful implementation of such support. The aim of the study was to create the model which helps to devise biomethane supply support policy providing controllable and stable growth of biomethane production over time avoiding relapsed “overshoots and oscillations” in the system. Due to the dynamic and complex character of energy supply system policy decisions, system dynamics was used as the method. The results show that the main parameters which have an impact on stability of the support policy are feedbacks linking the total biomethane support payments, the granted permits, the perceived limit of the support, willingness to invest in the production assets as well as time delays of the action resulting from the feedbacks. The results show that biomethane production can reach up to 610 GWh with the support of 66 EUR per MWh in 2030 without exceeding the perceived support limit and avoiding fluctuations in the system. The developed method-model can be used by the researchers and energy policy developers to study the dynamics of investments into biomethane supply systems and the resulting biomethane production volumes depending both on the sizes of the subsidies provided for the biomethane as well as the structure of the support system.

AbstractSupport for renewable energy currently is revised in many countries due to the perception that the economic burden caused by the support exceeds the permissible limit. Decreased or suspended support creates instability in renewable energy production. There is a lack of research related to design of the sustainable renewable energy support policy, which considers the structure of the support policy system in detail leading to successful implementation of such support. The aim of the study was to create the model which helps to devise biomethane supply support policy providing controllable and stable growth of biomethane production over time avoiding relapsed “overshoots and oscillations” in the system. Due to the dynamic and complex character of energy supply system policy decisions, system dynamics was used as the method. The results show that the main parameters which have an impact on stability of the support policy are feedbacks linking the total biomethane support payments, the granted permits, the perceived limit of the support, willingness to invest in the production assets as well as time delays of the action resulting from the feedbacks. The results show that biomethane production can reach up to 610 GWh with the support of 66 EUR per MWh in 2030 without exceeding the perceived support limit and avoiding fluctuations in the system. The developed method-model can be used by the researchers and energy policy developers to study the dynamics of investments into biomethane supply systems and the resulting biomethane production volumes depending both on the sizes of the subsidies provided for the biomethane as well as the structure of the support system.

AbstractIn this paper we report the result of research associated with the testing of a procedures necessary for utilizing natural occurring trace elements, specifically the Rare Earth Elements (REE) as geochemical tracers in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) applications. Trace elements, particularly REE may be well suited to serve as in situ tracers for monitoring geochemical conditions and the migration of CO2-charged waters within CCS storage systems. We have been conducting studies to determine the efficacy of using REE as a tracer and characterization tool in the laboratory, at a CCS analogue site in Soda Springs, Idaho, and at a proposed CCS reservoir at the Rock Springs Uplift, Wyoming. Results from field and laboratory studies have been encouraging and show that REE may be an effective tracer in CCS systems and overlying aquifers. In recent years, a series of studies using REE as a natural groundwater tracer have been conducted successfully at various locations around the globe. Additionally, REE and other trace elements have been successfully used as in situ tracers to describe the evolution of deep sedimentary Basins. Our goal has been to establish naturally occurring REE as a useful monitoring measuring and verification (MMV) tool in CCS research because formation brine chemistry will be particularly sensitive to changes in local equilibrium caused by the addition of large volumes of CO2. Because brine within CCS target formations will have been in chemical equilibrium with the host rocks for millions of years, the addition of large volumes of CO2 will cause reactions in the formation that will drive changes to the brine chemistry due to the pH change caused by the formation of carbonic acid. This CO2 driven change in formation fluid chemistry will have a major impact on water rock reaction equilibrium in the formation, which will impart a change in the REE fingerprint of the brine that can measured and be used to monitor in situ reservoir conditions. Our research has shown that the REE signature imparted to the formation fluid by the introduction of CO2 to the formation, can be measured and tracked as part of an MMV program. Additionally, this REE fingerprint may serve as an ideal tracer for fluid migration, both within the CCS target formation, and should formation fluids migrate into overlying aquifers. However application of REE and other trace elements to CCS system is complicated by the high salt content of the brines contained within the target formations. In the United States by regulation, in order for a geologic reservoir to be considered suitable for carbon storage, it must contain formation brine with total dissolved solids (TDS) > 10,000ppm, and in most cases formation brines have TDS well in excess of that threshold. The high salinity of these brines creates analytical problems for elemental analysis, including element interference with trace metals in Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) (i.e. element mass overlap due to oxide or plasma phenomenon). Additionally, instruments like the ICP-MS that are sensitive enough to measure trace elements down to the parts per trillion level are quickly oversaturated when water TDS exceeds much more than 1,000ppm. Normally this problem is dealt with through dilution of the sample, bringing the water chemistry into the instruments working range. However, dilution is not an option when analyzing these formation brines for trace metals, because trace elements, specifically the REE, which occur in aqueous solutions at the parts per trillion levels. Any dilution of the sample would make REE detection impossible. Therefore, the ability to use trace metals as in situ natural tracers in high TDS brines environments requires the development of methods for pre-concentrating trace elements, while reducing the salinity and associated elemental interference such that the brines can be routinely analyzed by standard ICP-MS methods. As part of the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Project the INL-CAES has developed a rapid, easy to use process that pre-concentrates trace metals, including REE, up to 100x while eliminating interfering ions (e.g. Ba, Cl). The process is straightforward, inexpensive, and requires little infrastructure, using only a single chromatography column with inexpensive, reusable, commercially available resins and wash chemicals. The procedure has been tested with synthetic brines (215,000ppm or less TDS) and field water samples (up to 5,000ppm TDS). Testing has produced data of high quality with REE capture efficiency exceeding 95%, while reducing interfering elements by > 99%.